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Tree Trimming in Cameron Park

Heading east on Highway 50 from El Dorado Hills? Cameron Park is right there, and we cover it. Ring (530) 255-2773 and we'll get a nearby tree pro to come look at your pines, oaks or redbuds.

A brushy ridge with its own trees

According to Wikipedia, Cameron Park lies in a brushy chaparral belt right where the Central Valley ends. Native trees are mainly gray pine and oak, plus a few little stands of ponderosa pine on higher ground. Redbud and manzanita grow thick, it adds.

That mix tells you what to prune and when. Oaks have their own winter and summer rules. Pines have a window too. And redbud, well, it mostly wants to be left alone. Our prune-by-month page lays them out.

Pines and the beetle calendar

A gray pine in your yard follows the same beetle rule as other pines. Pines get a no-cut season, per UC's bark beetle guide. It runs February to mid-October, the beetle flight season, and a fresh cut can attract them.

So the safe pruning window runs about October to January. If a pine is dying and you see pitch tubes, that's a mix of sap and beetle dust on the trunk, call a pro soon. UC says to remove an infested trunk quickly and chip or solarize the wood.

Keep freshly cut logs away from your living trees and shrubs, says UC, especially green wood that hasn't dried.

Heat, dry air and no snow

The town's ground runs from roughly 1,200 up to 1,450 feet, which Wikipedia says is under the Sierra snow line. Summers are hot and dry. Wikipedia gives daytime highs of 90 to 100, with spikes to 110 or beyond.

No snow means no heavy-snow breakage, but dry heat is hard on trees. Hot, calm afternoons are also when oaks drop limbs. The Master Gardener oak talk says to take off big sideways limbs that hang over a house, walkway or driveway.

A growing town, planned in the 1950s

In the 1950s, 5,000 acres of foothill land went to Larry Cameron, says Wikipedia. The plan grew from ranching to homes, then added a golf course, some parks, a lake and an airport. Today the town has about 7,600 homes in a mix of ranch lots and neighborhoods.

Larger lots usually mean bigger trees. Ask your pro about long-limb oaks that overhang a barn, a garage or a driveway.

The lake and the numbers

Cameron Park has a small lake of its own, and Wikipedia says the town covers 11.2 square miles. Its population went from 18,228 in 2010 to 18,881 in 2020. That's slow, steady growth, so most trees here are not brand-new plantings.

Wikipedia also says nights cool off more than in the Sacramento Valley below, and that summer highs stay a few degrees under the eastern valley. For a tree, a cool night is a break. It lets leaves rest and lose less water.

Even so, a yard with a pine and an oak needs two calendars. The oak follows the winter or summer rule. The pine follows the beetle rule. Write both on a card and keep it in the garage. Or just call, and the pro can plan the year.

Cost ranges

LawnStarter lists pine trimming at $210 to $1,630, and oak at $230 to $1,480. Fixr puts pine at $200 to $1,800. These are national guides, so use them as a rough map.